Primeval Redux
by Whovian521
Summary: What if Abby wasn't the only zookeeper that went to the Forest of Dean that faithful day? Now Abby and her best friend Nathan as they join a government team to investigate rips in time, fight some of the deadliest creatures ever and save humanity from greatest threat it has ever faced.
1. Shattered Worlds

**Disclaimer: I do not own Primeval, only my OC.**

**So I was reading a Primeval fan fiction when I realized something, their are almost no Abby/OC stories! We see OC romances for almost all the other characters but not her? I decided to remedy that. Don't get me wrong, I do love the Conby pairing but I thought it would be fun to write an Abby/OC story. R&R!**

* * *

The parking lot in front of the store was abandoned. A woman ran across the abandoned parking lot as a massive creature walked out of the forest, stalking its prey. The woman climbed into an empty barrel and remained as silent as possible, trying to avoid detection.

Unfortunately it didn't work and the creature had her scent and slammed its head against the barrel, severely denting it. The woman scampered out of the barrel and ran to the store. She desperately hit her hands against the glass double doors, trying to catch the attention of an employee who was cleaning the floors. The workman inside the store ignored her, thinking that she wanted to buy something after hours.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get inside she ran over to the cars and tried to hide from the creature, only for a car to land in front of her. The creature continued to knock cars out of the way forcing the woman to run back into the forest. The creature let out a deafening primal roar before following the woman into the forest.

That was the last time anyone would see Helen Cutter for eight years.

* * *

**-8 years later-**

Abby Maitland's day was not going well, after another failure of trying to get the two newest lizards to mate she had been informed that the sponsor to the reptile house had cut funding. She had been offered a spot in the bug house, but she had refused. Despite the fact it would allow her to spend more time with her best friend, she would much rather work with the reptiles.

"Abby!" The blonde turned around to see her best friend Nathan Cooper walking towards her. The slightly tanned, blue eyed, black haired zookeeper loved insects and arachnids as much as Abby loved reptiles. Looking up at her best friend who stood about head higher than her she could see the concern in his eyes. "I heard about the sponsor pulling out." Nathan explained.

Abby simply said, "It happens." Nathan internally sighed, he knew that Abby loved working with reptiles, and the loss of the reptile house would be devastating to her. "Hey, you know if you want I could call my parents and see if they could lend some money."

"No Nathan, I don't want to have to put you trough that, plus what would make you think _they_ would lend money to zoo?" Abby asked. Nathan's silence was all the answer she needed. Turning her attention to the file she was holding she asked, "Hey can you give me a ride to the Forest of Dean?"

Nathan raised an eyebrow at Abby's request. Abby's car had been in the shop for the past week, so Nathan had been driving her to work and back, so there wasn't a problem if he could do it or not, but he didn't know why Abby wanted to go to the forest of Dean at a time like now. "Of course I can, but why do you want to go?"

"There's a kid there who wants to give the zoo an exotic reptile he's been keeping as a pet, I thought I would look into it." Abby told him.

Nathan sighed, he knew that Abby was trying to get the cut funding off her mind by doing this, but he couldn't refuse his best friend, especially after what just happened. "Sure, let's go punch out and we can head over there."

* * *

After phoning ahead to the family the two zookeepers followed the directions they had found on the internet to a residential area by the forest. The mother of the son who sent the picture greeted them in the driveway.

"We never expected a personal call." The woman, Mrs. Trent told them.

"All part of the zoo service Mrs. Trent." Abby explained to her as they walking into the house.

"It's only a lizard." Nathan frowned slightly at that statement. He didn't really like people who didn't care about animals. One of the reasons that he and Abby were such good friends was because of their mutual like of the animal kingdom.

After meeting Ben, the owner of the lizard he walked the two of them up to his room to show them his lizard. Nathan felt like he had walked into a different house after walking into Ben's room. Whereas the rest of the house had been dull and orderly, Ben's room was the exact opposite. Model dinosaurs on the shelves, hanging from the ceiling, Nathan felt like he would find having conversation with Ben much more enjoyable than his mother. "I see you like dinosaurs Ben." Nathan said.

"Yeah, their awesome." Ben replied. A chirping as heard on the bed. Looking over Nathan saw a green lizard with a frill on its head and a pair of wing like appendages folded on its side. "His name's Rex, found him in the forest. Looked him up in a book and it said he was a flying dragon from Southeast Asia."

"_Draco volans._" Abby whispered. After another moment of looking at the lizard she said, "But he's not _Draco volans._"

"He isn't?" Nathan asked, surprised.

Abby shook her head in the negative she confessed, "In fact I don't know what he is." Rex jumped off the bed, on to a dresser and climbed up to a shelf.

"I thought you were an expert." Ben said.

"She is." Nathan confirmed.

"If I'm right you've discovered a completely unique species." Abby explained, looking at the teen who had a dumfounded expression on his face.

"Huh, cool." Ben said smiling.

"I need you to show me exactly where you found him." Abby told the young boy.

* * *

After telling Mrs. Trent where they were going the three of them, along with Rex walked to the forest. Abby had Rex wrapped in a blanket to keep him warm from the cold bitter air. "It's too cold for him to have lived here; he must have escaped from a private zoo or something." Abby said.

"I found him around here somewhere." Ben said. Abby and Nathan looked for any sign that might indicate where Rex had come from when Ben caught their attention, "Abby, Nathan."

"What?" Nathan asked as he looked at the boy who was considerably paler than he had been a minute ago. Following the boy's gaze the two zoo keepers saw what had Ben so pale. A dead cow was hanging in the low branches of the trees. After a moment of shocked silence Nathan spoke up, "It's fresh."

"What?" Abby asked.

"There aren't any flies on it which means it's only been dead for a few hours at most, so whatever killed it is still here."A moment later a deafening roar carried through the trees, and if Ben was pale before, now he was white as a sheet. So Ben did what any kid would do facing a scary situation, he ran.

Abby and Nathan followed him, trying to get him to slow down. "Slow down Ben!" Abby cried as she ran, trying to keep a good hold on Rex with Nathan behind them.

"Maybe it was a leopard." Ben said, trying to rationalize what they had just seen. "Sometimes they'll drag their prey up into trees to eat them later."

"Don't be silly," Abby retaliated, "There are no leopards in the forest of Dean."

"And even if there were, it wouldn't have been able to drag a full grown cow into the trees." Nathan said, poking another hole in Ben's idea.

"I don't care, it's weird I'm getting out of here." Ben told them, picking up the pace.

"Ben, wait!" Abby yelled, but it was a futile attempt, Ben was too scared to slow down. Abby and Nathan tried to catch up but Abby tripped on a log. Nathan grabbed Abby by the waist to prevent her from falling face first into the ground. Rex, who had jumped out of Abby's grip when she tripped, was now flying above the duo's heads. Abby smiled, watching in amazement as Rex weaved through the trees, before realizing that Nathan's arm was still around her waist. "Uh, Nathan?"

Nathan, who had also been watching Rex looked down, realizing what he was still doing, "Oh! Uh, sorry." Nathan said, quickly releasing his grip on Abby. The duo followed Rex until he landed in a large bush.

"Come on Rex." Abby said in a soothing tone, trying to coax the reptile out of his hiding space. Suddenly, Rex began to act scared and tried to get as far into the bush as he could, all the while being quite. Abby and Nathan froze on the spot when they heard the sound of gigantic footsteps coming from the other side of a small river. With his heart pounding in his chest Nathan very slowly turned and looked at the river and his eyes widened at what he saw in the reflection. A large head with two gigantic saber like teeth at the front and an equally gigantic mouth full of razor sharp teeth. He put a hand on Abby's shoulder who had also spotted the creature's reflection to try and calm her. Which wasn't really working, considering that he too was terrified of what they saw. After what had to be the longest minute in their lives the creature walked away. As its footsteps faded Rex began to chirp again.

* * *

Night had set in the forest and Abby and Nathan were still lost in the thick trees. After coming to a small clearing Abby asked, "Ok Rex, which way now?"

"What am I, chopped liver?" Nathan asked in mock hurt tone. Abby gave him a playful glare before the both froze after hearing a deep grunting sound from behind them. Turning slowly they took a step back in surprise at the sight of a huge creature grazing on the grass. The creature noticed them and turned to face them. Abby and Nathan began to back up slowly from the creature as it roared at them.

"Rex!" Abby whispered as she lost her grip on the reptile who scurried behind the trees. Nathan tugged on her shoulder to bring her attention back to the muti-ton beast in front of them.

"Don't move." Nathan and Abby turned behind them to see a group for four people, three men and a woman, also staring at the creature.

"Is it real?" Abby asked, who had returned to gazing at the creature.

"Some kind of experiment, maybe," the man at the front of the group muttered to himself in a Scottish accent. "Hybrid, throwback. Who are you two?" he asked.

"Abby Maitland," Abby answered.

"Nathan Cooper," Nathan also added, "Were keepers at Wellington Zoo."

The man approached it, shining his torch to get a better look at it. "It's a reptile. Five or six tones at least. Large supratemporal bosses. Huge oestroderms on its back." He muttered as he quickly broke the creature down examining it. The rest of his group also began to approach the creature.

"It must be some kind of anapsid," the man concluded.

"A tortoise?" Abby and Nathan asked. As the man tried to get a better look at it the creature roared, making everyone but Abby take a step back. "Stay in its field of vision," she said, "You're making him nervous," she finished.

"I was right. There was a dinosaur in that warehouse," the youngest of them said snapping a picture of it on his phone.

"Don't do that." Nathan said as the creature roared again, startled by the flash.

"Whatever it is," the woman snapped, snatching the camera phone from him, "Its classified until I figure out what the hell to do with it."

* * *

Abby and Nathan explained to the group why they had come to the forest as they walked back to Ben's house, who they were relieved to find ok, but this room was smashed up.

"I'll be making a complaint, they've filled his head with all kinds of stupid ideas" said Ben's mother as she pulled the quilt over Ben's bed "Just look at the state of his room!"

"It was the dinosaur," Ben protested

"The simple truth is Miss Maitland got carried away" the Scottish man, whose name Nathan had learned was Professor Nick Cutter said "Ben's pet was nothing more than exotic than _Draco volans. _It's a Southeast Asian flying lizard."

"There was a monster though. It chased us. Come on Abby and Nathan, tell them." Ben said, still holding true to his story.

Everyone in the room turned to look at the two of them

"I don't really know what happened, Ben, we just got frightened." Abby said

"That's all", Nathan concluded. Nathan could tell she didn't like lying about what had happened, neither did he, but they were told by the woman, Claudia Brown, who was a government official, not to tell anyone what they saw.

"But I saw the past. Prehistoric times. I was there." Ben argued.

"You saw the past?" Cutter asked.

"There were desert and rocks and things," Ben said turning to him, but after a moment he could tell no one was going to believe him and he stormed out of the room.

"I blame the telly. Excuse me." Ben's mother said walking out of the room after her son.

"I know you two feel bad about lying," Claudia said to Abby and Nathan once they had left the house, and were walking back to Cutter's car, "But if word of this gets out, who knows what the consequences might be."

"Your all gonna have to sigh the Official Secrets Act." Claudia stated.

"Whoa, since when did this become an official secret?" Cutter asked stopping and turning to look at Claudia.

"About 10 minutes after I finally persuaded my boss not to have be sectioned," Claudia said.

"Yeah, well, right now we have a far more _urgent_ problem" Cutter said, catching everyone's attention, "That creature we saw may be many things but it's certainly not a ruthless predator that drags its prey up into trees."

"Well, you can't be sure of that," Claudia in a disbelieving tone at what the professor was saying.

"He can," Abby said, "It's an herbivore. Pure veggie."

"You mean there's another one out there?" Claudia asked.

"We saw it." Nathan said. Everyone turned to look at him.

"What did it look like?" Cutter asked.

Nathan shrugged, "Only saw the head, but it was big, long snout, two saber like teeth at the front of the jaws, and rows of smaller teeth behind them."

"Great," Claudia said sarcastically.

"What did Ben mean when he talked about seeing the past?" Cutter asked, "These animals have to be coming from somewhere."

"What are you saying?" Claudia asked.

"I'm saying that the answer is in that forest," Cutter answered, "And maybe Ben found it."

"We have to get back to Connor and Stephen," Cutter said. Claudia nodded, and headed towards the car, the rest of them following. The idea Cutter explained as he handed out torches, was to scare the beast to make it go where it felt safe.

As they approached the spot that they had left the other two, Cutter started yelling out to them. "Stephen!"

The animal roared at the sudden noise and light and started running in the opposite direction.

"Whoa, where's it going?" Nathan heard the younger of the two, Connor ask.

"Leave it go," Cutter yelled "It's scared! Let's see where it thinks it's safe." The group chased the dinosaur for a short distance before it ran into a glittering hole in the middle of the forest, vanishing from their view. The object looked as if shards of broken glass had been suspended mid air with light shinning through them, creating an amazing effect.

"Where's it gone?" Nathan heard Claudia ask.

"Home," Cutter answered simply.

* * *

Claudia had called in backup to secure the 'anomaly' as Cutter called it. By morning the entire area was filled with government security guards and research equipment. Claudia wanted the two of them to stay because of their experience with the creature and the Anomaly so Abby and Nathan had called the zoo saying that they wouldn't be able to make it today. Nathan sat down next to Abby on top of the pile of boxes she was sitting on and said, "Bet this isn't how you expected to spend today huh?" Abby just rolled her eyes at Nathan's joke, but had a small smile on her face.

Stephen walked over and handed to two of them some coffee. "So how you two feeling?"

"Confused, frightened… exhilarated." Abby said.

"Kind of reminds me about the day we met." Nathan said, thinking back to the day they met almost 18 years ago.

* * *

_Nathan wasn't really sure where he was going. He wiped his dried tear stains as he walked deeper into the forest. He had run away from home- again. He had asked his parents for a pet spider, but his parents had profusely refused. He knew that that wasn't something to cry over but his parents had gone further and yelled at him for having an 'unhealthy interest' in insects and arachnids. Nathan sniffed a little, he knew his parents wanted him to be like them, businessmen, refined and proper. Nathan didn't want to be like that, he didn't mind getting his hands dirty, and he much preferred the company of invertebrates to people. He wanted to work with insects when he grew up, but his parents wanted him to take control over their company when he was old enough. Nathan sighed, he didn't get why his parents just couldn't accept him for who he was._

_The sound of crying reached his ears. Nathan considered heading back home before his parents became too worried, but his curiosity got the better of him and he followed the sound. Reaching a clearing his eyes widened at the sight of a blonde girl about his age sitting on a log sobbing. Her face was marred by a black and blue bruise that was roughly in the shape of a hand._

_Nathan accidentally stepped on a twig and the girl's head shot up towards the sound. Her eyes widened at the sight of Nathan. Nathan slowly approached the girl and said, "Hi, I'm Nathan."_

_The girl stammering nervously replied, "I-I-I'm Abby."_

_An awkward silence passed between them, broken by the occasional muffled sob from Abby who was doing her best not to cry in front of someone she just met. Her hand traveled up to the bruise on her face, reminding her why she was crying. Her mother had slapped her hard- again. She was doing that more and more she noticed, especially after she had drunk. Abby guessed it had something to do with the fact that her father had been going away on longer trips leaving her home alone with her abusive mother and her two year old brother. _

_"So…uh, what are you doing here?" Nathan asked, trying to break the ice._

_Abby sniffed and rubbed the bruise. It was still sore, but it didn't hurt as much as it use to. "Nothing." _

_Nathan glanced at the bruise before asking, "Did someone hit you?"_

_Abby sniffed again, tears building up in her eyes threatening to fall again. Nathan realized the mistake he made and walked over to Abby who flinched a little at his approach. "I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to make you cry." What Nathan didn't notice was the tree root in his path. His foot caught on it and he fell to the ground with a soft thud. The layer of leaves on the ground softened his fall and made some of the leaves fall on him. Abby giggled a little at Nathan's misstep. Nathan normally wouldn't have liked someone laughing at him, it reminded him of the bullies at school, but surprisingly Nathan found himself laughing with her. Getting up and brushing the dead leaves off of him he sat down on the log next to Abby, who didn't flinch this time. "So… What are you doing here?"_

_"I could ask you the same thing." Abby shot back. Her regular feisty personality was now rising back to the surface._

_"But I asked first." Nathan argued, but seeing that Abby wasn't going to answer anytime soon he relented. "Okay I'll tell you." _

_So Nathan told her about his love of bugs and how his parents wanted him to follow in their footsteps and that he needed to abandon his 'weird interest'. "I don't think it's weird." _

_Nathan looked up surprised at Abby who had just interrupted him. "You don't?"_

_Abby shook her head, "No, I think it's cool you like bugs- I'm not a big fan of spiders, but I love reptiles."Nathan blinked; he hadn't expected someone he just met to support him on a subject that people who had known him for years didn't agree with him._

_"So what are you doing here?" Nathan asked after a moment of silence. _

_"My mom." Abby said in a voice so small Nathan could barely hear._

_"Did she do…?" Nathan gestured to her bruise. Abby nodded._

_"Does your dad know?" _

_"He doesn't know, and I don't want to hurt him by telling him mom hurts me."_

_"Friends?"_

_"I don't have any friends."_

_"I could be your friend." Abby's head shot up surprise at Nathan's statement. Nathan himself was surprised at what he just proclaimed._

_"Really?" Abby asked._

_"Yeah, really."_

_Abby smiled, having a friend sounded nice._

_Nathan wasn't sure how long they stayed in the clearing but once it got dark the two of them decided it would be best to go home. They had barley gotten out of the forest when Nathan heard his name being called. "Nathan!" Looking towards the source Nathan saw this mother and father walking towards him. "You are in so much trouble young man!"His mother practically screamed grabbing his arm roughly. "When we get back you'll-" Nathan didn't bother listening to his mother, but instead turned towards Abby, who had just been joined by his father. He waved to her with a smile. Abby smiled and waved back._

_"Who was that?" Abby's dad asked curiously, now that his panic over where she had been most of the day was over._

_"A friend." Abby said simply. _

* * *

The sound of chirping brought Nathan out of his memories. Looking up Nathan saw a pair of men pick up a massive cage holding Rex and carrying it off. Abby saw the same thing and asked, "You don't think they'll hurt him?"

"Of course not." Nathan comforted, putting his hand on her shoulder, but he could see the look on her face was still worried about Rex's well being.

* * *

Claudia took Abby and Nathan along Cutter to the Home Office, sat them down and gave them papers to sign. They had already been told what the Official Secrets Act was and now they were signing papers to say they agreed not to tell anyone what they had seen.

After they had finished Nathan followed Cutter and Abby out into the hallway to meet Claudia Brown and her frowning boss James Lester.

Follow me," James said leading the way, "This… phenomenon, Professor. Claudia tells me you have an explanation."

"A theory," Cutter corrected, "The boy's experience proves that there's a concrete landscape on the other side of the Anomaly. And I think it's the Earth many millions of years ago."

"And this Anomaly, as you call it is a door between time zones in the world's history?" Lester asked.

"Hmm," was Cutter's reply.

"Suppose this remarkable theory's correct, what are the immediate risks?" Lester asked.

"Famine, War, Pestilence. The end of the world as we know it. You know the usual stuff."

"I think I could do without the facetiousness."

"Well, I could do without standing in some anemic office in White hall, talking to a civil services pen pusher," Cutter shot back, "When I should be out exploring one of the most significant phenomenon in the history of science."

"Technically, I'm not actually a civil servant," Lester corrected, "More a …trouble-shooter without portfolio in the PM's office."

"You mean you're a government hatchet man?" Nathan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Colorful, but surprisingly accurate," Lester said turning to him.

"And there's something else you should know." Cutter said bring Lester's attention back to him, "I intend to find out what happened to my wife, whatever the risks, so I'm going through the anomaly. And if you want to stop me, then your gonna have to shoot me."

James Lester chuckled, as Abby, Nathan and Claudia all looked at Cutter in shock.

"Well, I hope it doesn't have to come to that," Lester said.

* * *

Lester brought them to a window overlooking the lab that was holding Rex. Some people where inside trying to get samples from the lizard to confirm that it was in fact from the prehistoric era.

"You really shouldn't handle a lizard like that," Abby commented as they scientist poked and prodded the lizard.

"Let the experts do their jobs," Lester replied.

"They don't know what they're doing," Abby mumbled, "You really shouldn't mess with an angry lizard."

"I'm terrified," Lester mocked.

"Do they even know he can fly?" Nathan asked.

"Fly?" Lester asked, as he and Claudia looked at Nathan.

There was suddenly shouting from inside the room, Nathan looked up to see the men inside trying to catch Rex who was now airborne. The door to the room opened and he flew out. Nathan chuckled and followed after Abby and Claudia. They looked over the banister leading to the lower floors, where Rex had flown.

"Rex!" Abby said

"Come on," Nathan said entering the elevator first, Claudia and Abby following. They reached the 1st floor, and as the doors opened they hurried out to see the doors to the elevator opposite them close. Rex had just gotten in it.

"He's going up," Claudia said, noticing the dial of numbers over the doors. The three hurried back into their own and hit the top floor button

They hurried through an office full of people, who where ducking trying to avoid the flying lizard above them. They made it to the last office room; it was empty except for Rex who was sitting on top of the highest open window looking out.

"Rex," Abby said, "Don't do it Rex." she said "It's not your world out there anymore."

Nathan looked up as Lester and Cutter entered the room.

"Try some of this," Abby was saying, "You'll love it." she held out a piece of chocolate to the prehistoric lizard who chirped happily from where he sat. "I promise," Rex tilted his head and flew out of the window. "Rex, come back," Abby called. But the lizard had gone.

Suddenly, Rex appeared in the window and he flew back in and into Abby's arms. Nathan laughed as Abby turned around; smiling triumphantly and holding Rex like a new born. "Now you can say you're experienced in calming down dinosaurs," Nathan joked. Abby just smiled, relieved that the prehistoric reptile had returned to her.

"Good decision, Rex," Abby said.

"Oh those risks you were talking about," Cutter said as Lester turned to leave "There's one I didn't tell you about, running down your back." Lester looked at his back and cursed at the sight of the greenish fluid that hadn't been there a minute ago. Nathan held back a laugh as Lester sighed and walked out of the room.

"It's so perfect," Cutter commented with a smile.

* * *

The group returned to the Anomaly with Rex to return him back to his natural habitat. Nathan could tell Abby didn't like it but there was no use arguing, the decision had been made. Stephen was still out hunting for the second creature. Conner had told them that it was a Gorgonopsid, and after seeing the photo of it Nathan and Abby had to agree, its head looked exactly like the head they had seen in the forest.

Walking up to Cutter Abby handed him Rex. "Please take care of him," she said handing the lizard over. "Take care of yourself too," she added, reaching up to kiss Cutter's cheek.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Cutter said, moving towards the Anomaly. Standing beside Abby, Nathan watched as the professor disappeared through the Anomaly into the past.

* * *

Nathan was worried, it was almost 8:00 pm and Cutter and Captain Ryan still haven't come back, and the Anomaly was weaking. Its magnetic field was losing strength and it was shuttering, like it was going to collapse. Just as the Anomaly looked like it was going to close Cutter and Captain Ryan came through.

"Cutter?" yelled Claudia.

Nathan heard a chirping and looked by a tree to see Rex. _"He must have come back through the Anomaly when we weren't looking."_ Tapping Abby on the shoulder she looked over to where he was pointing. The two of them discreetly moved away from the group towards Rex. Abby took her scarf off she covered his head with it to calm him down and was about to pick Rex up when they heard a low growling noise. Everyone turned swiftly to see the Gorgonopsid running out of the trees towards them.

Abby shouted, "Run!"

Military personnel tried to stop the creature, but the site was in complete panic. An unfortunate soldier who got too close was struck by the head of the thousand pound beast, throwing him into a car which he landed on with a sickening crunch.

Abby tried to follow Nathan but tripped; the creature saw her struggling and its hunting instincts kicked in, zeroing in on the stragglers, or in this case Abby and Nathan. She screamed. "Nathan!"

"Abby!" Nathan cried running back to her. Despite the fact he was terrified, he couldn't leave Abby. Gripping her under the arms he tried pulling her up, but she kept slipping on the wet leaves and dirt.

There was a loud noise, like a car horn. Abby and Nathan looked up to see Stephen arrive in the 4x4. Seeing the car as the greater threat the Gorgonopsid charged the vehicle head on. Neither opponent wavered as they charged each other at full speed. The creature struck the vehicle head on and went down with a thud and severely dented the front of the car. Stephen got out unharmed and walked around the open door to look down at the seemingly dead creature. Looking up he walked towards the stunned group. Just then the Gorgonopsid eye opened and it attempted to get up, growling and roaring.

"Stephen! Catch!" Cutter shouted throwing a discarded gun to him. Stephen caught the gun and fired about a dozen shots into the Gorgonopsid before it fell to the ground dead.

The entire forest seemed to sigh in relief that the prehistoric carnivore was dead.

* * *

Abby, Nathan, Connor and Stephen were waiting outside for Cutter to finish his meeting with Lester.

Walking out of Lester's office Cutter wordlessly walked by the group, who fell in formation behind him. "So now what?" Nathan asked curiously as they made their way out of the Home Office. Abby and Connor just shrugged their shoulders, only for Cutter to speak up.

"Isn't it obvious?" Cutter asked not bothering to turn around.

"We get to hunt dinosaurs." Stephen finished with a grin.

* * *

**Review!**


	2. Anyone Got Some Bug Spray?

**Well even though nobody reviewed it I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and my OC, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too.**

* * *

"London Underground apologizes for the delay, it is due to signaling problems at Parson Green." came the conductor's voice as the tube train was forced to come to a stop before it reached the station. Unfortunately the train's air conditioning had also broken, making the temperature uncomfortably hot for the passengers.

A woman, fed up with the heat, got up from her seat and walked to the back of the train and opened the window on the emergency exit to try and cool the train and herself down. She stood there reading her book, when something tapped her on her neck. Brushing it off as he imagination she continued reading her book. Again she felt something tap her neck. She turned to see a massive spider crawling through the window. Panicked she slammed the window shut, slicing off one of the spider's legs. She screamed as the severed limb twitched on the ground.

* * *

A knock on the door interrupted Nathan's breakfast. "Who do you suppose that is?" Nathan asked to his pet Emperor scorpion, Spike who was currently sitting on his shoulder. The person at the door knocked again, "Coming!" Nathan shouted.

Walking over to the door Nathan was surprised to not only find Abby but Connor as well. "Hey Nathan." Abby greeted, smiling at her friend.

"Hey guys, come on in." Nathan said holding the door open for them.

Connor's eyes widened at the sight of all the aquariums full of insects and arachnids. "Whoa, talk about bringing your work home." Connor joked, referring to Nathan's job at the zoo's bug house.

Nathan just rolled his eyes and asked, "So what brings you here?"

"Oh, right, I think I found another Anomaly." Connor told him, remembering why he and Abby had come.

"Have you told Cutter?" Nathan asked.

"Not really." Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Look I don't want them to think I'm an idiot if I'm wrong."

"So, why did you come here?" Nathan asked.

"We want you to come investigate with us," Connor said pointing to himself and Abby.

"Hold on," Nathan said, "I need to put Spike away." It was just an excuse to talk with Abby without Connor overhearing, but nonetheless Nathan gently pick the scorpion from his shoulder and walked into the kitchen, placing him in his aquarium. He then turned to Abby who had followed him into the kitchen, "Do you have a death wish!?"

"Look I know this isn't a good idea but…" Abby tried to calm Nathan down.

"It's a terrible idea! What happens if there is a predator, what are you going to do then?" Nathan asked, worried for his friend's health.

"Look, like I said, I know this isn't a good idea, and I'm trying to talk him out of it, but if I don't go imagine how much trouble he could get into." Abby argued, "Besides, I'll bring a tranq gun and I'll have my cell phone ready to dial the others if something does happen."

Nathan, "I still don't like it." Abby gave him a look that clearly said 'you're not my dad'. Nathan sighed "Fine, but you _better_ call me if anything happens."

Abby gave him a smile, "Don't worry, I will."

They then walked back out to Connor who was still waiting for Nathan's answer. "Uh, Connor, I can't come, I have a project for the zoo I have to work on." Nathan lied.

"Oh well, maybe next time." Connor said has he and Abby walked towards the door. "We'll call you if we find anything." As Abby walked out the door she gave him a 'don't worry' look.

* * *

A few hours later someone knocked on the door. Thinking that it was Abby and Connor coming back to say they hadn't found anything Nathan was surprised when he found Cutter and Stephen at the door.

"Stephen, Cutter..." Nathan said, opening the door wide, "Come in."

"This isn't a friendly visit, Nathan...we believe Connor and Abby have gotten into some trouble..." Cutter explained.

"Please tell me they didn't go through with it," Nathan groaned.

"Through with what?" Stephen asked curiously.

"Connor said he thinks he found another creature sighting and wanted to go investigate it, I said no because it wouldn't be very smart, but Abby went with him to talk him out of it, or at least so he wouldn't get into too much trouble."Nathan explained.

"We're gonna need you come with us," Cutter said.

A short drive later the three of them were at Abby and Connor's campsite. Looking to the side Nathan saw a robotic dinosaur in the bushes. Connor explained to them that he had told his friends about the Anomalies. Fortunately they didn't believe him, but they decided to prank Connor instead by building a robotic dinosaur to scare him.

"Look, I know what you're gonna say," Connor started.

"We're sorry." Abby cut in.

"The police aren't gonna prosecute you for trespassing." Cutter said, "But supposing there had been a predator what where you going to do? Tame it?"

"You knew exactly what was at stake, but you just couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you?" Stephen asked.

"It's just so big," Connor protested, "I had to tell somebody. I'm sorry. I am."

"Go back to college. Get on with your work. I'll find you another supervisor," Cutter told him.

"I'm just as much to blame as he is," Abby interjected.

"Just as stupid, maybe," Cutter said turning to her, "But you didn't shout your mouth off and you've still got skills I can use. You and Nathan stay."

After sorting everything out with the police Nathan drove Abby home. As Nathan pulled up to her flat Abby said, "Thank for the ride."

"You're welcome." Noticing the look on her face Nathan asked, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Abby muttered back.

"This isn't going to become a habit is it? Where I have give you a ride home after a terrifying experience and you say your fine?" Nathan joked.

Abby smiled a bit, "Thank you." She said as she got out of the car, "G'night."

"Goodnight." Nathan replied as she walked back into the flat.

* * *

The next day Nathan and Abby were called in for an creature attack in one of the train tunnels. About half an hour after the call, Nathan and Abby stood outside of Kings Cross tunnels. Ryan and the other security officers had entered the tunnels and were trying to find the Anomaly and the creature that had attacked and poisoned a pest controller.

"They don't even know what they are looking for," Cutter said to Claudia as the two approached.

"Well there can't be that many different types of venomous predators under Aldwych," said Stephen.

"You should see the last tube home on a Friday night," Claudia quipped.

Suddenly there was a commotion from behind them coming for the entrance to the tunnel. Nathan turned with everyone else to see what was wrong and moments later Ryan and his men came running out shouting for a medic. Apparently something like a spider had dropped down on the solider that the medic was examining. The medic showed Cutter, Stephen, and Nathan the bite mark.

"They were like spiders, but with pincers, not fangs," said Ryan, "Some of them were over a meter long. Horrible little..."

"_Solifugae_." Nathan interrupted, "These bite marks and your description are similar to a Solifugae's so these are probably aren't true spiders but some form of Solifugae from millions-"

"Look -" Cutter interrupted Nathan before he could continue, "Tell me how you feel."

"Any blurred vision?" Stephen and Nathan asked together.

"No. But there's something else," Ryan said, "The gunshots were too bright, like fireworks."

"Classic sign of excess Oxygen," Stephen said, "A richer more heavily oxygenated air must be seeping through from another Anomaly."

Cutter nodded as Ryan left them to prepare his men, and Abby approached them. "We're not talking about the Permian Era anymore. This is much earlier."

"How much earlier?" Claudia asked.

"Maybe Carboniferous about 300 million years ago," Cutter answered.

"We really need to see exactly what these creatures look like." Cutter pressed, "I need to see it for myself."

"Okay." Claudia said after a moment of debate. Looking around at Cutter and Stephen and nodding giving them permission to go into the tunnel, "Go."

"Let's get some gear," Cutter said.

* * *

They were given all black suits similar to what the Special Forces team wore to protect them. Nathan didn't feel much safer; he had seen the wound from the pest control guy, and whatever insect or arachnid could leave a bite mark that deep would be able to penetrate the clothing. Nathan and Abby walked up to Cutter, Stephen and Claudia.

"What are you two doing?" Claudia asked the two zookeepers as they approached.

"Nathan and Abby has more practical experience with animals than all of us combined," Cutter explained to a less than thrilled Claudia.

"Look I don't care if you two are both doctor Doolittles, it's too dangerous." Claudia protested.

"I can help; I just finished a study on insect behavior." Abby said.

"With my help," Nathan muttered. Abby glared at him, "Shutting up now." Turning to Cutter Nathan asked, "Do you have to torches?"

"Ryan's getting them." Cutter assured him.

"Torches?" Claudia asked, confused.

"Solifugae are nocturnal and try to avoid sunlight, so if these are a form of Solifugae they should flee from the bright lights." Nathan explained.

"So did you really just finish a study on insect behavior?" Stephen asked Abby as Claudia walked away.

"Yeah, but to tell you the truth arachnids aren't really my thing. Shut up!" Abby said, whacking Nathan in the arm as he laughed. "I've told you a million times before it wasn't funny!"

"What wasn't funny?" Stephen asked.

"Well when we wer-" Nathan started, only for Abby's death glare to silence him, "Nothing." Nathan still smiled at the memory. On his ninth birthday he had finally gotten what he had wanted.

* * *

_A now nine year old Nathan grinned excitedly as he opened his next birthday present, which was from Abby. "Wow!" Nathan said in delight, pulling out an encyclopedia on insects. "Thanks Abs!" Nathan said hugging the petite blonde eight year old who laughed at her friend's excitement. _

"_I'd knew you like it." Nathan smiled; Abby always knew what to get him. Abby's father looked down at the two with a small smile on his face. Nathan was glad that Abby's father had come and not her mother, who is his mind didn't deserve that title. _

_The moment was ruined when Nathan's mother spoke up, "Yes-well that's wonderful and I'm sure that you'll love just as much as you're other gifts." She said in a tone that said that she didn't really care about Abby's gift. Nathan smile shrunk as he looked at the other gifts. As usual his parents had gotten him nice, expensive gifts-but not the ones he wanted. A gold watch, a shiny bicycle, and a book about economics. Nathan and Abby had nearly laughed at the last gift, anyone that knew Nathan knew that economics was the last thing he was interested in._

"_Yeah, I will," Nathan said in a far less excited tone. Abby frowned slightly; she didn't want her best friend to be like this, especially on his birthday. Then Abby remembered the last gift that she, or rather her dad, had gotten for Nathan. _

"_I have something else for you." Abby said. Nathan looked at his friend in surprise. Abby nodded to her father who walked out of the room to go get the present. When he came back in the Cooper families' jaws dropped, all for different reasons. Inside the glass aquarium that Abby's father was carrying was a whip scorpion, or more specifically Nathan realized as he looked at the arachnid it was a __Giant Vinegarroon, one of the largest whip scorpions in the world. _

_It was also the one that Nathan had been eyeing for the past month in the pet store. "You…?"Nathan asked, at a loss for words._

"_I saw how much you wanted him, I hope you like him," Abby said._

"_Like him? I love him!" Nathan shouted as he hugged Abby is excitement._

_Nathan's parents however were less than thrilled; they had been trying to end this 'unhealthy'-as they put it-fascination with insects and arachnids that their son had. But it seemed that Abby was just as supportive of Nathan's interest with bugs as Abby was with reptiles. "Yes, um, well I'm sure it will make a great pet." Nathan's father said with disguised disgust. But Nathan didn't care what his parents thought; Abby had just made this the best birthday ever._

* * *

_The next day Abby had gotten a call from Nathan, asking her to come over. Abby was extremely grateful for the invitation. Her father had taken Jack to the doctor, leaving Abby with her mother who had been drinking again. Wanting to escape her mother's abusive grasp Abby quickly ran over to her friend's house and into his room where he told her to meet her. _

"_Shut that door!" Nathan exclaimed as Abby walked into his room. Quickly obeying Abby shut the door and walked over to a distressed Nathan. _

"_What's the matter?"_

"_I can't find __Caesar." Nathan explained, referring to the whip scorpion Abby had given him._

"_What do you mean you can't find him?"_

"_I turned my back a minute and when I looked he was gone!" Nathan said as he crawled under his bed to look for his new pet. "Can you help me?"_

_Abby rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll help you." Moving to his bookcase Abby began to search for the missing scorpion._

_About 15 minutes later there was still no sign of Caesar. "I can't find him." Abby said, throwing her arms up is frustration._

"_Well what am I suppose to tell my parents, if they find out I lost him they'll never let me have another...pet… again…" Nathan trailed off as he looked at Abby._

"_What?" Abby asked._

"_Don't move." Abby suddenly felt something on her head as Nathan slowly moved towards her. Her eyes looked up and she saw Caesar's front legs crawling down her head. Nathan lifted the scorpion off of Abby and put it back in his cage._

"_I'll have to keep an eye on you."Nathan said before turning around to Abby, who was still frozen. "Abs, he's off your head."_

"_Hey Nathan."_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Why don't you stick to the bugs and I'll stick to reptiles?"_

_Nathan smirked playfully, "Technically he's an-" A glare from Abby stopped that train of thought. "Good idea."_

* * *

After Captain Ryan brought them the torches they descended into the dark tunnel. "You were right." Cutter commented as one of the spiders on the ground ran away from the light, "They are sensitive to light."

"Anyone have a really big slipper," Abby asked as another spider crawled off the wall. Nathan wanted nothing more than to study one, but they had to find what had killed the pest control man since those bitten by the spiders showed no signs of being dosed with a fatal amount of venom.

As they entered another room, there were spiders scuttling around everywhere. They walked further into the room and Nathan flinched when he heard a crunch, he looked down to see Stephen had stood on one of the smaller Solifugaes.

Venturing further into the room, Nathan looked around, finding a fence with a hole twisted into it, with what looked like saliva dripping off of it. He slipped through the hole and looked up to find the glittering Anomaly in the middle of the bunker. "Cutter!" he called through the fence.

Stephen, Abby and Cutter followed Nathan's voice through the fence where they too saw the Anomaly.

"What's happened to us?" Cutter asked no one in particular, Nathan watched as several spiders scurried back through the Anomaly back into their own time.

"Hey guys," Abby said, catching the attention of the rest of the group. Nathan looked to where she pointed. Just beyond a stack of crates was another creature, but it had far too many legs to be a spider. "What is it?"

"I don't know," said Stephen.

"It's not a spider," said Nathan. "It looks like it's a-"

Stephen suddenly grabbed Abby from around the waist and pulled her back as the creature burst from the boxes and lunged at the four of them. After the initial shock Nathan took a good look at what was the largest centipede he had ever seen. Its forcipules were massive, longer than his arms, and its mandibles clicked menacingly as it sized the four of them up. Taking his attention away from the centipede Nathan saw that Stephen had been knocked away from Abby. Nathan picked Abby up by the arms and helped her get to the hole in the gate. Cutter attempted to follow, but the creature cut him off. The creature backed off but disappeared from view.

"Stephen can you see it?" Cutter's voice asked from beyond the gate.

"No!" Stephen shouted back. Nathan looked around the room for any sign of the gigantic centipede. Nathan froze when he heard the sound of the centipede's mandibles clicking. Nathan looked up to see that the centipede was crawling on the piping above them. Stephen, who also heard the noise, looked up as well.

Reacting quickly Stephen pushed Abby and Nathan away and threw a bucket at the centipede. The centipede fell to the ground and reared up, similar to how a cobra would rear up to make itself look bigger. The centipede turned its attention to Cutter who was whistling to draw it way from them. "Go!" Cutter shouted.

"Cutter!" Stephen yelled back, inadvertently drawing the centipede's attention back to them.

"Go, I'll be fine, get out of here!"

"Come on!" Abby shouted. The three of them ran through the door and shut it behind them. The door shook as the centipede struck it, but the steel door held its ground. They were safe, but Cutter was now trapped in a room with a prehistoric centipede.

The trio quickly got to the surface and informed Claudia of what had happened. "Cutter? Come in," Claudia said into the radio, trying to get a hold of the professor, failing to do show she turned to look at the three of them and said, "All I'm getting is interference. Look." She spread out a map of the underground to show them. "There's no other way out. The tunnel was blocked 30 years ago."

"He must be trapped," Nathan stated grimly.

Stephen told them, "I'm going back in."

"No one is going anywhere until we know what we're dealing with," Claudia snapped, stopping Stephen.

"He could be injured." Stephen argued.

"I don't want to leave him down there anymore than you do, but I'm not losing anyone else in this wild goose chase," Claudia stated firmly. "We don't even know for sure where he is. Did you see what kind of creature it was?"

"It looked like a giant centipede," Abby said.

"Does anyone know what it's called?" Claudia asked.

"We don't know anything about it." Nathan exclaimed, "No one does."

"Connor does," Stephen argued, "He's a walking encyclopedia of this stuff. He probably has giant bugs for fridge magnets."

"Okay," Claudia conceded, "I'll get him." She then handed the map to Stephen and walked away to get a hold of Connor.

"I can't leave him in there," said Stephen once Claudia had left.

"You can't go in there without back up," Abby said trying to reason with him.

"Watch me," he said and turned away.

"Stephen!" Nathan shouted. Stephen turned towards him, "Don't let the centipede bite you, since the spiders aren't poisonous the killer's the centipede." Stephen nodded before continuing towards the tunnel.

"Are you sure about that?" Abby asked nervously.

Nathan sighed, "Yes." Abby turned her gaze back to the tunnel, hoping that in a few minutes Stephen would come back with Cutter.

* * *

A few minutes later Abby was trying to raise Stephen on the comms, but he wasn't answering.

"Stephen." She called again as Claudia and Captain Ryan walked up.

"What's he done?" Claudia asked. Abby and Nathan gave her a guilty look and Claudia gritted her teeth. She snatched the headset from Abby and angrily asked, "Stephen, where are you?"

"He was trying to help." Nathan explained.

"Well he's done a really great job hasn't he?" Claudia asked sarcastically. She tried two more times before giving up on contacting him. "See that's the problem with heroic gestures, succeed and you wonderful, fail and you leave a mess for everyone else to clean up." Claudia said harshly. "Go get him." Claudia ordered to Ryan and his men.

Looking down on the street Nathan saw Connor get out of a government car. "Connor!" Nathan shouted to his friend who looked up to the two of them and gave a smile, happy that he was here.

* * *

"Okay," Connor said after he had been given a description of the creature and the time period it was from, "So it's probably an Arthropleura."

"A what?" Abby asked.

"Basically it's a centipede on steroids," he explained, "It's more or less blind, good sense of smell and touch. I mean this things pretty big and scary looking, but it's more or less timid. It's the kind of bug that'd stick to the kitchen at parties."

"This one must have a personality disorder," Nathan muttered.

"How dangerous is it?" Claudia asked

"According to this," Connor said looking up from the screen "It would have fed off dead wood and leaves."

"That doesn't mean it's not dangerous," Nathan commented.

"So it's not poisonous?" asked Abby.

"No way," Connor answered.

"Well if the spiders and centipede aren't our killer then what is?" Nathan asked to no one in particular.

"Medic!" shouted one solider

"We need a stretcher!" shouted another

"Cutter!" Abby shouted, "Stephen!" she added hurrying to the side of the stretcher as one of the medic's pulled back Stephen's collar to expose the wound.

"He's been bitten by the Arthropleura," said Cutter "Same wound. Same symptoms' as the pest controller. We need to do something before it destroys his central nervous system."

"Poison?" asked Connor.

"The spiders are off the hook," said Cutter "It's the centipede that's the killer."

"Not poisonous you said?" Claudia asked furiously, rounding on Connor for providing them with false information.

"Hey!" Connor protested, "The only information we have to go on is that of the experts."

"Sometimes I hate it when I'm right." Nathan muttered to himself.

"Tell them about Helen," said Stephen as Abby returned to his side, "She was there."

"What's he talking about?" Claudia asked Cutter as the Medics took Stephen away, Abby staying beside him. Nathan didn't hear Cutter's response as he followed Abby to the ambulance.

"You know," Stephen said looking up the best he could at Abby, "you look really beautiful."

"You're delirious," she replied as tried to hold back a blush.

"Have dinner with me," Stephen asked.

"We'll talk about it when you're better."

"I can't wait that long."

"Of course I will," Abby said, "And I'll have coffee at your place after and stay for breakfast in the morning."

"Good result," Stephen said, his voice barely above a whisper as his body convulsed, "It's amazing how much easier this stuff is when you're dying."

"You're not dying!" Abby insisted as they loaded Stephen into the back of the ambulance.

Abby glanced back at Nathan who just said, "Go." And without a second glance Abby got into the ambulance to accompany Stephen to the hospital.

As Nathan watched the ambulance drive off he felt his gut clench. Nathan wasn't sure what he was feeling but he had to focus so Stephen wouldn't meet the same fate as the pest controller.

* * *

"Can't we run some more tests and find a match for the venom somehow?" Claudia asked once Abby had returned and explained Stephen's situation.

"It would take too long. He's dying." Abby said.

"The only shortcut to process is to collect a pure sample of venom from the creature that bit him," Nathan said as everyone faced him. "If we do that we should be able to find another venom with a similar chemical composition."

"How are we going to do that?" Claudia asked incredulously, "Ask it to fill a specimen jar?"

"In a way," Cutter said shortly.

"Oh, come on," Connor said.

"No. It's the only option," Cutter said reaching for the walkie-talkie, "Ryan. Ryan, are you there?"

_"First line's clear. Moving into second bunker,"_ came Ryan's voice through the talkie.

"Have you seen the centipede yet?" Cutter asked, "If we lose it Stephen's dead. On no account let it return through the Anomaly. Repeat, do not let it go back."

"Now you find me something that'll do the job," Cutter added to Nathan, who nodded and left to go find something to hold the venom.

"What are you going to do?" Claudia asked.

"I'm going to invite a very angry centipede to bite me," Nathan heard Cutter reply as he walked off.

* * *

After Nathan found a sac to hold the venom and a wrist guard to protect Cutter's arm the group joined Ryan and his men in the tunnel.

Ryan walked up to them and told Cutter, "Bunkers clear, and it hasn't been through the Anomaly on my watch. There's nowhere else for it to go. Either it's already gone through. Or it's beyond that door." Nathan sincerely hoped it was the latter.

Nathan remained with the others as Cutter along with Ryan and his men searched the tunnel. A few minutes later Cutter and the soldiers came back. Nathan could tell by the defeated look on Cutter's face that they didn't find the Arthropleura. While Nathan was upset that they didn't find the creature something seemed wrong. Nathan racked his brain until he realized what they had missed. "Burrow!"

Everyone look at Nathan liked he had grown a second head. "What?" Claudia asked.

"A lot of centipedes like to burrow!" Nathan replied.

"So did Arthropleura." Connor agreed.

"Look for it!" Cutter shouted. They all began to search the bunker for any sign of a burrow.

"Found it!" Connor shouted as he pulled back a plate of metal.

Everyone gathered by Connor's find. Shinning a flash light down the hole Cutter asked, "How deep could this be?"

Running a quick calculation in his head Nathan answered, "Creature that size 50 feet maybe."

"Alright, fine," Cutter said, "I'm going in."

"That's crazy!" Claudia argued.

"There's no other way of finding out where it's gone," Cutter argued back.

"I'm coming too," said Connor.

"Hold on." Nathan said; he wasn't going to let his friends go after the creature without _some_ protection. Walking over to a bottle that had a clear liquid in he gave it to Ryan, "This is turpentine, put this on your clothes. Bugs hate it." Ryan and Connor took it and sprayed it all over their clothes, Cutter who had to get close to the Arthropleura refused to put any on. The trio then descended into the burrow.

After about fifteen minutes of tense waiting the trio crawled out of the hole, with Cutter holding a bag full of the creature's venom. "Get this to the hospital," Cutter said handing the bag to Claudia. Claudia nodded and ran out of the bunker with a soldier escort.

* * *

With the creature's venom now in had the hospital was able to find a suitable anti-venom. Nathan walked into Stephen's hospital room where he found Abby sitting in a chair next to the sleeping Stephen.

"How is he?" asked Nathan as he approached Abby.

"The convulsions have stopped," Abby said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes "That's something."

"You really like him, don't you?" Nathan asked slightly solemn.

"I don't know him," Abby answered.

"Since when has that ever stopped people from fancying each other before?" Nathan asked with a small but sad grin on his face. "Remember back in freshman year I had asked Taylor Cross out, and then I found out she had Entomophobia." Abby nodded, she had never really liked Taylor, and it had been quite funny to hear her reaction to Nathan's interest. "The point is that if you do really like him then…see if he likes you."

Stephen started to cough, and his eyes opened. Nathan went to the door, "Doctor!" he called. "I think he's back."

Abby smiled as she leant in closer to him, she connected eyes with him and he smiled weakly.

"Welcome back," she whispered to him, Nathan looked around at his friends and stepped back away from the door as the nurses came in checking Stephen over.

Later that afternoon, Abby returned to the Hospital to see Stephen sitting up in bed talking to Claudia. She stood at the door waiting for the two too finish talking.

"I was gone, you know," Stephen said "I don't remember anything. I was probably seeing things."

"Yeah," Claudia said disappointingly.

Abby smiled at Claudia as she left the room, before the blonde walked into the room.

"What was all that about?" Stephen asked.

"You really can't remember a thing after you were bitten?" Abby asked hopefully, "None of the things you said outside of the ambulance?"

"What did I say?" Stephen asked.

"Oh, just stuff, you know," Abby answered disappointingly, "I just thought some of it might have stuck, that's all."

"Was it anything important?"

"Nah," Abby said "Nothing important."

Stephen nodded and smiled as Abby nodded. Leaving the room Abby bumped into Nathan. "Well?" Nathan asked, wanting to know if Stephen really did like Abby.

"He doesn't remember." Abby said quietly.

Not wanting to see his friend like this Nathan said, "Come on, you need some rest, I'll take you home."

"Thanks Nathan," Abby said.

"What are friends for?" Nathan smiled as he put his arm around her shoulders.

* * *

**I hope you liked this chapter, now please review!**


	3. Jaws

**I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

The swimming centre had closed hours ago, but the sound of people swimming still filled the centre. Two lifeguards, Antony Williams and his girlfriend Diane Jones, had decided to stay at the pool after hours to have some time to themselves. Diane swam over to Antony and exchanged a kiss before swimming to the edge of the pool. Deciding that it was time to head home Diane pulled herself out of the pool to go dry off in the lockers. Antony remained in the pool, blissfully unaware of the danger he was in. While Diane was blow-drying her hair Antony went to make one last dive. Antony didn't notice that dark shape in the pool until it was too late. As his feet left the board the Mosasaur leapt out of the pool and swallowed the lifeguard whole.

Antony's scream echoed through the building. Diane, growing concerned for her boyfriend went to investigate. "Anthony?" Not seeing or hearing any sign of him she walked towards the male locker rooms to see if he was getting dried off. As she passed one of the pool windows the Mosasaur spotted her and rammed its head against the tempered glass, cracking it. Diane screamed at the sight of the prehistoric killer.

* * *

Stephen was packing up his things that had been brought to the hospital during his stay. He was currently talking to Nathan.

"You really can't remember a thing," Nathan asked, wanting to know if he remembered asking Abby out.

Stephen replied, "Not a thing after I went into the tunnels. Probably for the best though, right? Still, they say it's only short term, so, you know…"

Abby, who Nathan had called to tell her Stephen was leaving the hospital today walked in. She entered the room and smiled as the boys did a double look at her. _"Is that a skirt?"_Nathan thought. Nathan had _never_ seen Abby wear a skirt willingly and they had been friends for years. In fact he could count on a single hand the number of times that Abby had worn a skirt. The last time being in seventh grade.

* * *

"_Come on Abby you'll look great."A 13 year old Nathan encouraged. _

"_No I don't."A 12 year old Abby protested from behind to door._

_Their school was putting on a musical and it was mandatory for their class to participate. They were also required to wear good looking clothing. The boys had to wear dark jeans and a nice button up shirt. Nathan didn't mind his dress requirements, but Abby was less than thrilled about the girl's clothing. The girls had to wear a dark top, which Abby didn't care about- it was the skirt that bothered her. _

_Abby had never really been a girly-girl, much preferring to play sports with the boys than to put on makeup or dressing up. _

"_Abby it's not going to kill you if I see it."Nathan said rolling his eyes._

"…_You don't know that."_

"_Abby come one, you're going to look great like you always do." Nathan said. _

"_Fine." Abby unlocked the door and stepped out, revealing her outfit. _

_Her black top fit her frame perfectly, hugging her developing curves. Her black skirt in contrast hung loosely, reaching down to her ankles, showing of her black dress shoes. "How do I look?" Abby asked tentatively._

"_Y-You look great, "Nathan said, not sure why he stuttered._

_Abby brightened up at that, "Really?"_

_Nathan nodded vigorously and smirked, "Now was that _so_ bad?"_

"…_Don't push it."_

* * *

"Is that perfume?" he asked her, surprised at her new look. "And lipstick?"

"I can do the girl thing, you know," Abby replied at bit testily.

"Ooh," Nathan said.

"You look really good," said Steven.

Nathan looked up and straight out of the window, refusing to look at Abby or Stephen. He would rather not have to listen to this conversation.

"Thanks," Abby flirted.

"It's good of you guys to come," said Stephen oblivious to Abby's flirting, "But you shouldn't have bothered."

"Don't flatter yourself mate," Nathan said, "I was given the puppy do-oof." Nathan gasped, rubbing the now sore spot that Abby had elbowed him in.

"Come on," said Abby, "I'll give you a lift home."

"Oh, there's no need," Stephen said, "My girlfriends picking me up." He stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Abby's face fell and Nathan cringed at Stephen's obliviousness.

"Girlfriend?" Nathan asked, looking at his friend. He could see that this piece of news had hurt her.

"Yeah, Allison," said Stephen, still oblivious to Abby's feelings, "She's been in the rainforest for two years researching infectious diseases."

"Let's hope she's not one of these girls who brings her work home with her," Nathan quipped.

"Hmm," said Abby, "You must have missed her," she added moving around the bed as Stephen moved towards the door.

"Yeah," said Stephen, "I'd better go." He said leaving the room.

"Bye," said Nathan, waving at Stephen's retreating form.

"Well so much for the girl thing." Abby fell to on the bed in frustration and hurt, Nathan could see that Abby did like Stephen and Stephen's obliviousness at mentioning he had a girlfriend hurt Abby. And as happy Nathan was on the inside that Stephen wasn't interested in Abby, he didn't want to see his friend like this.

"I think you look great," Nathan said, Abby looked up at him with a quizzical expression, catching his eye and she could have sworn she saw him blush as he looked away.

* * *

The team got called by Cutter to another creature sighting later that day. Apparently two lifeguards had stayed late and one of them was attacked and eaten by a creature. After arriving, Nathan stood on the side of the pool, helping Abby collect water samples.

"With all this chlorine in the pool, I'm surprised the creature even came through," Connor commented.

Abby added, "To a reptile it would have been like swimming in a bucket of acid."

"Yeah," Stephen agreed as he put on swimming gear to investigate the pool, "It probably sensed the danger and got out faster before the Anomaly closed."

Abby and Nathan got up and walked off carrying the sample case. "You ok?" Nathan asked once they had gotten outside Stephen's earshot.

"About what?" Abby asked, feigning innocence.

"You know exactly what." Nathan shot back.

Abby just sighed and shrugged helplessly, "It happens."

"People that have asked you out before and forgot about it after being poisoned by a prehistoric centipede?" Abby gave Nathan a glare, but her anger was betrayed by a small smile.

"Come on, we have to take these to the lab."

* * *

Later that day Nathan got another call from Cutter, apparently a bolus of the lifeguard's remains had appeared in a reservoir 20 miles away from the pool.

Cutter had assigned Nathan and Abby to collect water samples so they could compare them with the pool samples to find any similarities. If both Anomalies were actually one in flux with an anchor in the past as Cutter hypothesized then the foreign elements found in the in the two bodies of water would be similar. Unfortunately Cutter also had Stephen working with them, Nathan didn't have a problem but Abby's disappointment in Stephen's unintentional rejection of her affection had turned into a seething anger. Abby hadn't said a word to Stephen the entire time and while the hunter remained oblivious to Abby's anger misinterpreting her silence as being focus on their work, but Nathan knew better. So when Stephen was called over to Cutter and Connor Nathan brought it up.

"You know he wasn't trying to be rude." Nathan told her, in an attempt to ease her irritation.

"That's not the point. He knew what he was doing when started flirting with me. He knew he had a girlfriend." Abby said huffily. Nathan wisely decided to remain silent, an angry Abby was not something he'd bet on _anyone_.

They changed into the dry suits, camouflage style, which were donated by the SAF men, and entered the water to gather more samples and compare them to the samples they found at the pool. They were in up to their waists and started scooping water into test tubes. Looking up Nathan saw a pair of swans suddenly take off, and then paled when he saw what they were trying to get away from.

"Abby? Um, what's that?" Nathan asked nervously, as he pointed to the dark shadow that was the mosasaur under the surface of the water nearby. It was moving rapidly toward them, before they could move; it started to circle Abby in large, lazy circles, before disappearing into deeper water.

"Don't move!" Abby told him, looking around to see if the mosasaur was still there. Nathan nodded, confirming he understood, the slightest movement could set the predator off.

Nathan waited a minute before deciding it was safe-relatively speaking, to move.

"Go!" Nathan shouted, and they made a break for it. They were quick, but the aquatic creature was faster, and immediately resumed stalking them_._

"Quickly Abby!" Nathan shouted, and they managed to reach the edge of the reservoir and scramble up on to the bank.

"You okay?" Nathan asked her. Before she could respond the mosasaur leapt out of the water and tried to reach them, but the aquatic creature couldn't get far enough out of the water to get them. It failed and struggled to try and reach its prey which was trapped but a few feet out of reach. They moved from side to side, in an attempt to stay out of its reach but two rows of kayaks and canoes prevented them from getting away from the mosasaur and they were pressed up against the fence.

"Move now! Go back!" Nathan darted forward and grabbed an oar from one of the canoes left on the bank. He lunged forward with it in an attempt to hit the mosasaur with it, hoping the mosasaur would be discouraged by his actions and leave to seek easier prey.

Nathan hit the mosasaur over the nose a couple of times, but the mosasaur refused to give up so easily. Though he didn't want to harm the creature he knew that he would have to injure it to send it away. As the mosasaur opened its maw again he jabbed the oar into its mouth. The oar got lodged in the roof of its mouth and in its confusion and pain it jerked its head and accidently snapped the oar in half, leaving it lodged in its mouth. The mosasaur turned away, diving back into the water, leaving the pair shaken. In minutes, they were surrounded by a group of SAF soldiers. Deep underwater the mosasaur swam back toward Cutter who was near the Anomaly, shaking its head in pain and roared, leaving a slight trail of blood behind as it went. It went past Cutter, not noticing him and entered the Anomaly, which closed after it.

* * *

"Some kind of mosasaur, maybe six or seven meters. Cretaceous, at a guess." Connor was telling Cutter and Nathan, while one of Ryan's medics looked after Abby.

"Scary. And at that size, it couldn't have been fully-grown." Cutter said, staring at the water. In the background they could hear the medic telling Abby to take deep breaths.

"Yeah." Nathan said flatly, suppressing a shiver.

"Which is just as well for you." Cutter told him, patting him on the shoulder before turning to Claudia. They looked over to where a group of Ryan's men were standing a short distance away with Ryan and Stephen.

Abby approached Nathan and reached for his hand. "You saved my life." She said quietly.

"For what, they second time?" Nathan joked back with a smirk. Abby said nothing but planted a short kiss on his cheek and walked away, not noticing Nathan becoming crimson.

* * *

In a suburban house, two children wearing uniforms ran into their backyard to play with their mother following them.

"Okay, guys. Ten minutes before school." Their mother told them, before taking a basket of laundry down into the cellar, picking up her kids dirty clothes along the way. She loaded the washing into a washing machine and switched it on, not noticing the steady stream of water that was beginning to cover the floor. She climbed the steps and went to pick up the school bags that lay next to the back door, and turned around, finally noticing the wet footprints she left behind. Wondering where she picked up the water she walked back down to the cellar. Looking down into the cellar, she found that the entire floor was cover in a thick layer of water. Sighing she went to call for a plumber to come and fix the problem. As she left she failed to notice a bird like head poke above the water line before submerging itself again.

* * *

"I thought you said you got a leak in the washing machine, love. Not an indoor pool." The plumber joked. The water line had rising a few more feet in the time it took the plumber to arrive.

"Can you stop it?" The woman asked as she looked at her flooded cellar.

"We'll see." The plumber told her as he waded into the waist deep water. The woman waited on the stairs while he checked behind the washing machine.

"Well your connections are fine. It must be a mains leak." He told her. There was a splashing sound behind him, he turned around and shone his torch into the dark area of the cellar.

"Well, your dog's enjoying a swim anyway." He laughed.

"We haven't got a dog." She told him, and walked back upstairs while he looked around. Wanting to know what had made the splashing noise the plumber waded over into the darker part of the room. He walked next to what looked like a statute of a very strange bird. However this statue turned out to be real as it snapped its beak that was full of razor sharp teeth at the plumber. Startled the man tripped into the water, and in an instant was attacked by other Hesperonis.

"Help me!" He shouted in fear and pain as the prehistoric birds swarmed him, ripping off bit of flesh.

"Help me!" He cried out again, as he managed to get his feet underneath him, and struggled to remain upright. He stumbled to the staircase as the woman came down hearing the commotion.

"Are you all right?" She asked. He started up the stairs, but was dragged back down under by the Hesperonis. The woman screamed in fear and ran up the stairs to call the police.

* * *

Nathan parked his car across from the house that they had intercepted the call from. According to the owner a plumber that had come to look at a flooded cellar had been attacked by a reptilian creature. Ryan and his men were already there in civilian uniforms, securing the area for the rest of the team.

Walking over to Abby and Connor he asked, "What do we have?"

"Well the woman described the creatures like a lizardly bird so-" Connor started.

"Lizardly? Is that even a word?" Nathan asked.

Connor gave an indignant look, "Her words not mine!" Abby and Nathan just rolled their eyes while Connor continued, "Anyway since there from the same era as the mosasaur it's probably one of these." Connor said, pulling up a picture a rather large bird with tiny wings and razor sharp teeth. "Hesperonis, was really fast in the water, couldn't fly, and was extremely dangerous."

"So like a penguin with teeth?" Abby asked.

"_Killer_ penguin with teeth." Connor corrected.

"Abby, Nathan," Stephen interrupted, "I need you to help me unload the gear, Connor Cutter wants to see you." Nodding Connor ran off to find Cutter while Abby, Nathan and Stephen went to unload to silver truck. As they started to unload the gear Stephen started to stare at Abby, something at didn't go unnoticed by her or Nathan.

"What?" Abby asked.

Stephen answered, "My memory's back. Some of it anyhow. Enough to know why you're angry at me." Nathan froze for a second, he wasn't sure why, but he didn't like that idea of Stephen dating Abby. He didn't know why he was so concerned about Abby's romantic life; she could date whoever she wanted.

"Well, we've got a job to do Stephen." She dismissed with a tense smile.

But Stephen wouldn't give up. "Can we at least talk about it?" He asked, ignoring Nathan's nonverbal and inaudible warning from behind Abby.

Abby sighed, "Look, I over-reacted. I've already forgotten about it."

"I remember and you forget. Typical. Look, I thought I was never going to see you again and I didn't want to die without you knowing that I liked you, you know."

"You should have been thinking about your girlfriend."

Stephen chuckled a little. "Yeah, well, the truth is, she and I, well; we don't know each other that well anymore."

"Well, now she's back, you'll have a change to get reacquainted." Abby shot back with another tense smile.

"Abby, I'm sorry." Stephen pleaded.

Abby walked up to Stephen and looked him in the eye, "Look, there's no need to make a big thing out of it. I fancied you for a bit and now I don't. That's all." Stephen finally gave up and walked off with one of the air tanks.

Walking over to Abby who had a frown on her face Nathan asked, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Abby replied tensely.

Nathan crossed his arms and gave her a stern look, "Don't give me that, I've known you long enough to tell when something's eating you up."

Abby stopped for a minute and looked up at Nathan, "Do I always pick the wrong guys?"

It took a moment for Nathan to realize what she was talking about, but he did realize she did have a point. Every person she had fancied or gone out with had either liked someone else or cheated on her. "I'm not going to deny your track record of boyfriends isn't the best, but it's not your fault, it's theirs. They don't take the time to realize how amazing you are. I know you'll find someone, and if it helps you feel any better, if your next boyfriend does something funny I'll do to him what I did to Jacob in 11th grade."

Abby's grateful smile turned into a giggling fit. Jacob Teller had asked her out to prom and she had been really excited, she had had a crush on him all year, but the week before prom he had called it off and asked another girl out and then told her that he had only asked her out to get his real date jealous enough to come back to him. When Nathan had found out he had immediately tracked down Jacob. Abby wasn't sure what he did, and to this day he refused to tell, but the next day Jacob flinched whenever Nathan got within 10 feet of him and had publically apologized to Abby and had asked if she was still interested in going to prom with him. To add insult to injury she slapped him in the face and walked off yelling that she never wanted to see him again. To avoid wasting all the money she had spent getting ready for prom she and Nathan had gone as friends. "Thanks." Turning her attention back to the task at hand she said, "Let's get this stuff inside."

* * *

Lester arrived about ten minutes later with an escort, and as usual he was extremely unhappy.

"The revelation that Helen Cutter is still alive changes everything." Lester told them.

"She's still alive? Um, how did I miss that?" Connor said, clearly very confused.

"Long story." Claudia said, dismissively.

"So she's been living in the past of _eight years_?" Nathan asked. He couldn't imagine living in the past for one year, let alone eight.

"How are we going to explain Celebrity Love Island to her?" Connor asked in his usual comedic way.

"Shut up Connor." Claudia ordered in a frustrated tone. Connor wisely complied.

"She's eight years ahead of us in terms of understanding the Anomalies. Her knowledge could be priceless and we have to share it." Lester told them.

"Which is fine if she was here, but she isn't." Stephen said.

"Which is why we're going to go and find her." Everyone looked at Lester, surprised by these turn of events, "We know she wants to make contact. She must be brought back here, by force if necessary." Lester continued in an emotionless voice.

"This is my wife you're talking about." Cutter told him.

"Which is why I want you to go through the Anomaly and bring her back." Cutter held a level gaze at the civil servant, who wasn't the least fazed by the professor's calm anger. "You will of course have a military escort." Lester said.

"To do what? Shoot her if she won't come back?" Cutter protested.

"To protect you, both of you. The alternative is you sever all ties with the Anomaly project with immediate effect, and we'll go and find her ourselves." Lester told him firmly.

"Okay, on one condition. I go on my own. There's no question of force. I'll do my best, but if she doesn't want to come back, then that's it." Cutter told him.

"How can we trust you?" Claudia asked angrily. Nathan exchanged a looked with Abby; clearly they had missed something between Cutter and Claudia.

"Oh, I'm sure Professor Cutter won't let us down again. You will try and remember what side you're on, won't you?" Lester asked in a rather condescending fashion.

* * *

While Cutter was traveling in the distant past the rest of the team were waiting in the living room.

"Abby, how long has it been?" Stephen asked as he walked up from the cellar

"91 minutes, 41 seconds," Abby answered, looking at her stopwatch.

"The drains," Connor said suddenly, looking up from the maps spread out all over the table, "Stephen, in theory, a creature could make its way along the sewage system all the way to the river and once there, it could go anywhere."

"And?" Stephen asked.

"Well, good news is the size of the drains rules out anything bigger than a small mosasaur," said Connor.

"Well how small?" Nathan asked, but he felt like he already knew the answer.

The look on Connor's face answered the question before he even spoke. "Not small enough."

Claudia walked into the room next to them, followed by a group of men putting on wetsuits and scuba diving gear.

"What's going on?" Stephen asked. Claudia didn't answer, but gave them an apologetic look and closed the door on them.

* * *

Abby, Nathan and Conner sat down in the ambulance and waited for Cutter to recover. He had apparently lost his breathing apparatus and inhaled a large amount of water. Claudia had performed CPR on him, saving his life. After Cutter had told them Helen was on the other side of the Anomaly Claudia sent in the diving team to retrieve her. The trio knew that Cutter wouldn't like that at all.

"Ugh." Cutter groaned as he sat up. "How long have I been out for?" Abby, Nathan and Connor exchanged nervous glances; one of them had to tell Cutter about the diving team.

"Not long." Abby answered.

"I have to talk to Claudia."

"There's something you should know." Nathan started as Cutter stood up. As he tried to leave the ambulance a SAF officer ran over and leveled his rather large gun at Cutter's head.

"Stay still, don't move!" The SAF officer ordered as two more ran over, aiming additional guns at him.

"What's going on?" Cutter asked, clearly confused.

Moments later Lester walked out of the house, followed by Ryan and his men, dragging a _very_ angry Helen Cutter along with them. Helen locked eyes with Cutter and glared angrily at him before being forced into a car. Lester and Claudia climbed into their own car, leavening the team behind without a second glance. Nathan shook his head; this was not going to turn out well. For _anyone._

* * *

**Review!**


	4. Parasite

**Hey everyone. After 3 months I finally updated. **

**Grimlock1992, thank you for reviewing and following this story, and to answer your questions- yes this is an Abby/OC story and I do have more planned for this story that just having Nathan take Connor's place, including a sixth season.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Primeval.**

**Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

The team was forced to wait in the observation room while Lester and Claudia interrogated Helen. Abby, Connor, Nathan and Stephen exchanged glances while Cutter's expression remained unreadable, stonily watching as his wife was interrogated.

"Presumably there are still laws against kidnapping?" Helen asked, leaning back in the chair, showing no anxiety at her situation, which made sense to Nathan after living in the past for eight years with some of the most dangerous creatures ever- being threatened by two civil servants probably wouldn't seem that intimidating.

"Hmm. Though, officially, you're dead. We can't have kidnapped someone who doesn't actually exist, can we?" Lester smirked while Helen gave him a small frown, but otherwise showed no outward reaction. "The only way you can get out of here is by telling us everything you know about the Anomalies."

Helen remained silent for a moment before leaning over the table. "I'll tell you one thing; you're the spitting image of a Utahraptor I once met in the Jurassic." Lester gave her a clearly false and irritated smile.

"I'll take that as a refusal to co-operate, shall I?" He asked flatly while a man walked into the room and handed Claudia a paper.

"We've got another one. In a block of flats in the city centre." Claudia said looking at the one way window the team was standing behind, giving them a discrete nod. They began to file out of the room to head to the incursion sight. Cutter was the last one out, giving Helen one last glance before leaving.

"Happy now?' Lester asked sarcastically.

* * *

Captain Ryan and his men arrived at the flats in the back of a van. They jumped out and ran into the building. The kids who were playing football stood and watched them, their hands raised in the classic 'surrender' pose, but after seeing that they soldiers weren't interested in them they started to play their game again. Cutter, Stephen and Connor arrived in Cutter's 4x4. Nathan and Abby pulled up in Nathan's car behind them. They followed Ryan's group into the building. Stephen paused for a moment to kick the football that the kids had resumed playing with. It hit a sign that read 'No Ball Games'.

"Fluke." Connor said.

"Jealous." Stephen retorted. Ryan and his men arrived at the flat. They pointed their guns at it and looked ready to kick the door down. Ryan nodded to one of his men, who knocked on the door. They secured the room and signaled the team to enter. Inside the flat, Cutter was getting ready to open the bathroom door, while Ryan and a few other soldiers had their guns aimed and ready for any creature that might be on the other side.

"I didn't expect the SAS." said Mrs. Davies, the owner of the flat, stood behind them as they prepared to enter to room.

"The town council takes pest control very seriously, Mrs. Davis." Cutter whispered, not want to startle whatever creature was lurking behind the door.

"Are you ready?" He asked Ryan. Ryan nodded, and the door was opened. Ryan and another soldier cautiously entered the room, closely followed by Cutter and Stephen. Nathan, Abby, Connor and Mrs. Davis waited by the doorway.

"Relax everyone. It's only a python." Cutter told them breathing a sigh of relief. Mrs. Davies let out an ear-piercing shriek.

"ONLY a python? What the hell were _you_ expecting?" Mrs. Davies said in a shrill, panicked voice.

"Ow." Connor winced as the shrill scream resounded on his eardrum.

After determining that the creature sighting was false, Cutter left to go talk to Lester and Claudia. Nathan stayed with Connor, Abby and Stephen to take care of the snake. Nathan held a bag open while Abby picked up the python, which hissed at being handled.

"Don't worry," Abby said to Stephen, who was standing by the door with a slightly nervous look. "This one's just a baby. Fully grown, they can be up to 20 feet long."

"That makes me feel so much better," Stephen said sarcastically.

"Are you okay?" Abby asked smiling.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love snakes," Stephen said, though he remained where he was.

"_Sure_ you do." Nathan said. Stephen glared at him, but he just chuckled.

"We're going to need a bigger bag," Stephen said, trying to do anything to leave the room. Once he had gone, Abby and Nathan looked at one another and burst out laughing at Stephen's predicament.

A minute later Stephen returned with a bigger bag and held it out, "How's this?" he asked.

"That's good," Nathan replied as Abby eased the snake into the larger bag. Stephen closed the bag on the hissing snake.

"Right, see you in a minute," Abby said.

"Where you going?" Stephen asked looking up at her as he still held the bag that now contained the python.

"Tea break," Nathan answered as he followed Abby out of the bathroom.

"I ain't touching it," he heard Connor say from the bathroom and he stifled a chuckle, following Abby down to the cars.

* * *

Abby, Nathan and Connor met the others in the kitchens of the stadium as Helen walked up to the door of a walk-in refrigerator. They had received a call from Cutter saying that Helen was talking and was going to lead them to an Anomaly that supposedly was going to form next to a pride of saber-tooth cats.

"In there?" Claudia asked.

"Yup. In there." Helen told her.

"Connor?" Claudia asked. Connor looked at Cutter who gave him a nod of approval. Connor approached the fridge, and pulled out his compass, while Helen and Claudia engaged in a glaring contest. The compass remained pointed at magnetic North.

"There's no trace of a magnetic field." Connor said, looking up from his compass.

"The doors are too thick, it can't penetrate the metal." Helen interjected.

"Is that true?" Claudia turned to Cutter for confirmation.

"Possible." Cutter confirmed eyeing the door warily, as if the door would burst open at any moment with a horde of savage prehistoric cats behind it.

"Watch her." Claudia told Ryan. She went to unlock the fridge as Ryan moved closer to Helen with his gun ready to shoot either Helen or any creature that might be behind the door.

"Hey! What if the cats have already come through? They could be right behind that door." Helen protested. Claudia stepped back and shook her head.

"You know what; she's really starting to get on my nerves." She told Cutter.

"I can understand that." Cutter told her sympathetically.

"She does have a point." Nathan interjected, but immediately regretted it when Claudia gave him a nasty glare.

"You're bluffing." Claudia accused, bringing her attention back to Helen.

"Try me." Helen's expression was blank and unreadable. Claudia backed up and looked at Stephen.

"Stephen." Stephen went to open the fridge, stopping when he noticed that it was locked with a padlocked chain. Helen handed him a knife from her belt and he broke open the lock. Why he handed the knife back to Helen and why the soldiers hadn't confiscated it in the first place didn't make much sense to Nathan, but he chose not to comment on it. The soldiers stepped into position as he and Ryan opened the doors. The Anomaly was inside, and its magnetic field started pulling various metal items across the room.

"Get down!" Ryan shouted as various metal objects flew towards the open Anomaly.

Everyone except Connor dropped to the floor. Luckily, Stephen caught a metal sieve just before it hit Connor in the head.

"This is where you duck." He told Connor, who gulped.

"Okay." He hit the deck. Everyone remained on the floor as any metal object not bolted to the floor was pulled into the magnetic field.

"You know, you'd make a terrible poker player." Helen said to Claudia. She and Claudia shared another look. Things had stopped flying about, and Connor walked into the fridge.

"Anybody hungry?" Connor asked as he nicked a meat-pie from the walk-in fridge.

"Oh my God. We've got to get rid of them. The meat will act like bait." Helen tried to rush into the fridge, but Ryan and another soldier grabbed hold of her. Cutter went past her into the fridge. Helen grabbed hold of Ryan's tac vest in desperation.

"Unless you want your men to be breakfast, I suggest you do something." Helen told them, and Cutter started passing boxes of pies out to Stephen.

"Here." Cutter said, and Ryan shook Helen off and moved to help.

"Okay, clear them out." Ryan instructed his men, and they moved to help.

"Quickly, here." Cutter handed another box to Helen.

"Okay." Helen took the box and handed it to one of the soldiers.

"Take this." Cutter rolled a trolley out to Stephen and for a moment the fridge was clear of soldiers, and that is when Helen made her move. She rushed past Cutter into the Anomaly, the trolley preventing the soldiers from reaching her before she made it through.

"Get her back!" Claudia shouted.

"Helen!" Cutter shouted, and Ryan went after her. Cutter tried to go after them but was held back by a pair of soldiers, he looked at Stephen who took off into the Anomaly.

"For God's sake, someone stop him!" Claudia shouted. Abby, Nathan and Connor could only watch the Anomaly cautiously for any sign of Saber-Tooth Cats. A few minutes later Ryan and Stephen both came back through the Anomaly unharmed, but there was no sign of Helen, or any saber-tooth cats.

* * *

The core team stared at the laptop looking at a photo that showed them the other side of the Anomaly. Dozens of Anomalies were open, presumably each going to a different time period.

"It's incredible." Cutter said amazed at the sight of so many Anomalies in such a small area.

"It's the spaghetti junction of Anomalies." Connor said staring at the screen in awe.

"There's no way I could follow her. It would be like running into a Hall of Mirrors." Stephen told them apologetically.

"Let me guess, not one saber-toothed cat in sight." Claudia said frostily.

"Not even a kitten." Stephen said annoyed.

"You tried to follow her." Claudia accused Cutter.

"To stop her. What possible reason could I have for wanting her to escape? I want answers more than anyone." Cutter told them. Suddenly, there was a chirping noise, and the Anomaly rippled.

"Incoming." Ryan said, and his men raised their guns, aiming at the sound of ominous squawking that could be heard from the other side. The noises continued as a bunch of dodos came through. They knocked one soldier over, and then chaos descended as everybody began to chase them.

Don't let them get out!" Nathan shouted, and they did their best to contain the flightless birds. In the commotion, once poor soldier ended up sliding across the floor on his belly as the dodo he was chasing moved out of his way. Cutter and Nathan used their coats to herd one into an office and Stephen managed to trap one underneath an upturned bin. In the chaos nobody noticed one of the dodos eating Connor's Roswell key ring and waddling out of the stadium.

* * *

"They're great!" Cutter said, absolutely gleeful as he sat on the floor with three of the Dodo's around him. Abby and Connor stood in the doorway, looking amused. Claudia and Ryan were with them, looking... not so amused.

"Dodos." Claudia said, clearly shocked.

"Oh, they're so cute." Abby cooed.

"And _so_ dumb." Connor said, as one of the Dodos walked into a wall.

"They're not stupid, just trusting. It's not their fault they became extinct." Abby protested.

"Funny, you weren't this sentimental about the Gorgonopsid." Connor remarked.

"Dodos aren't the size of a car and have razor sharp teeth." Nathan countered.

"Is that the lot?" Claudia asked.

"Yep, that's it." Stephen said as he walked up behind Connor.

"We better ship this lot back before we upset Darwin. Now everybody, um … grab a dodo." Cutter told them, and they began to herd the dodos through the anomaly. Abby assisted Stephen with a particularly stubborn one.

"Go on." Cutter said, shooing them through.

"They're so cute!" Abby cooed again, watching them go.

"Come on. Hey, hey, wait." Cutter leapt out of the way as the dodo's started rushing through.

"Professor, we have a dodo down." Ryan shouted from behind them. The last dodo was lying on the floor, obviously dead. Cutter and Stephen crouched down to check it out.

"Oh no." Claudia said sadly.

"What happened?" Nathan asked turning back toward them to look at the now dead dodo.

"Maybe it ate one of the pies." Connor said jokingly as he looked down at the compass checking strength of the Anomaly's magnetic field. Cutter gave him a dirty look.

"Sorry." Connor apologized.

"Poor little guy. We should do an autopsy to find out how he died." Cutter said.

"Could have been the shock." Stephen suggested.

"Well we've both been through and we're alright." Cutter answered, dismissing the theory.

"As far as we know." Stephen muttered.

"Cutter!" Both of them turned towards Connor, who was staring at the flickering Anomaly. "The Anomaly is fading."

* * *

Back at the labs; Cutter, Stephen, Abby and Nathan stood around the body of the dead dodo that they had brought back to the lab, ready to do an autopsy. Cutter was about to make an incision when the dodo jerked violently. The four of them jumped back, surprised.

"Whoa, whoa. It's … its muscle spasm." Stephen said, trying to reassure them all.

"No. It's been dead for hours. Okay." Cutter them, and they approached the dodo again. As Cutter moved, once again, to cut the bird open, it jerked. But this time, its mouth opened and a screaming, worm-like creature wriggled out. It fell to the floor and started wriggling toward Abby. She backed up against the wall.

"Stephen, grab that." Cutter shouted, pointing to a bell jar, which Stephen quickly grabbed and out down over the worm, trapping it. They breathed a collective sigh of relief.

* * *

Lester and Connor joined Cutter, Stephen, Nathan and Abby in the lab, where Nathan was examining the parasite.

"It looks like some type of larva." Stephen said, looking at the worm.

"No, it's an adult." Nathan informed them as he got a better look at it.

"It's some kind of giant cestoid. It's destroyed the internal organs and attacked the central nervous system." He told them; pointing to the x-ray they had taken of the dodo, showing them the damage the parasite had done.

"I thought the trick of being a good parasite was to live off the host creature without killing it." Lester asked dryly.

"No, this one doesn't compromise. It enters the blood stream as larvae, it feeds off the host, and then it moves up the body to lay its eggs." Nathan said morbidly.

"Keeping itself alive just long enough to reproduce itself." Stephen continued.

"And then mission accomplished, they both die together." Cutter finished.

"Isn't nature wonderful?" Lester asked sarcastically.

* * *

Nathan stood in front of Lester as he skimmed through his report. "So how does this thing pass itself on?"

"Biting, but in this case kissing would be fine." Cutter answered.

"Well that doesn't look like that will be much of a issue." Lester said, looking at a photo of Tom. "I take it this things an automatic death sentence?"

"If we can get to Tom before the parasite matures we might be able to remove it, but were talking _hours_ at the max- this thing matures faster than anything I've ever seen." Nathan said. "But even then…" Nathan trailed off, but a questioning look from Lester made him go on. "This thing is tearing apart his central nervous system to get to his head and it is _massive;_ even if we can get to Tom it may be already too late to save him."

"And who knows how many people Tom could infect." Claudia started. "Three, four? And if they infect three more?"

Lester waved her off, "Yes, yes I can do the math. You know this is all Helen's doing. Unleashing a pandemic on us is one more part of her twisted plan." Nathan glanced at Cutter who had tensed at Lester's accusing words.

"What plan?"

Lester glared at Cutter, "You tell me."

"Helen hasn't done any of this on purpose, the dodos being contaminated is pure chance." Cutter argued.

"Who knows what Helen is capable of? She's left us behind. _All_ of us. I think you're the only person who can't admit it" Lester held Cutter's gaze for a moment before sitting back down. "Doors open, thank you. I suggest you all hurry up and find him."

* * *

Nathan carefully set the dead dodo that they had found in Connor's apartment. "Be careful not to get cut by its beak, I don't know if the parasite can still transmitted once the host and original are dead." He warned Abby.

"Gottcha." Abby said as she set two of the knives on the table. "Do you think we'll be able to save Tom?"

Nathan sighed. "I don't know. The parasite may have already progressed too far." He really didn't want to say that, especially to Connor. He had only mentioned him a few times but Connor had admitted that Tom was one of his closest, and before he met them, only friends. To lose one of your best friends like this. Nathan cast a sidelong glance to Abby. This whole parasite deal had really hit close to home. Before the victims had been strangers and while it was gruesome they had managed to pull through. But this was someone one of them _knew_ and if it could happen to a friend, it could happen to them. Nathan really didn't want to think about what could happen if Abby was attacked. Pushing those thoughts aside Nathan said, "Now let's see if we can't find some way to help him."

Nathan was about to make the first incision when he and Abby froze at the sound of someone breathing heavily. "Hello, can we help you?" Abby asked a figure that was obscured by the plastic sheet.

"They're after me. I-I need proof-I need your help." Abby pulled to curtain aside and Nathan's eyes widened at the sight of Tom. Abby suppressed a gulp and backup again as Tom moved closer. "Are they watching us now?"

Nathan frowned and exchanged a look with Abby. "No one's watching." Nathan assured him. Tom moved forward, pushing away the curtain to get closer to the dodo. Nathan and Abby remained motionless, not wanting to startle Tom. With the parasite in his system he was unpredictable, and the last thing they wanted to do was get infected. Tom switched off the lights and removed his hood and sunglasses. "So what's going on with these things?" When neither of them answered he shouted. "Tell me!" Tom regained control of himself and bent over the table in pain.

"Tom just take it easy." Abby said as she approached him, only to be stopped by Nathan's hand.

"No! Stay away, I don't want to hurt you." As Tom was talking Nathan placed himself between him and Abby.

Suddenly Tom's eyes dilated and shifted to an icy blue color and his voice deepened. "What have you done to me!"

Nathan maintained his position in front of Abby as Tom moved around the table. "What-what are they growing in me?"

"Tom," Abby started, trying to calm him down. "The dodo bit you; if let us we can help."

Tom laughed. "Do you think I'm stupid? Dodoes are extinct. What are they really _doing_?" When neither of them answered Tom's eyes dilated again and he changed towards them. Nathan moved to block him, but instead found him being pushed aside with a surprising display of strength from Tom. Nathan's head struck the wall with enough force to get knocked unconscious. However Abby didn't have any time to check on her friend when Tom grabbed her by the arms. Abby tried to shake herself free, but the parasite seemed to be releasing Tom's adrenaline when provoked and right now his grip was like a vise. Abby glanced at Nathan to see if he was okay, but she couldn't see past Tom.

"Tom listen, there's a parasite inside of you, come-on let us get rid of it for you." Abby tried to calm Tom down, but instead it seemed to have to opposite effect. Tom threw Abby to the ground in anger and grabbed her wrist, pulling them closer to bite them. "Okay! Wait!" Tom stopped to look down at Abby. "You want the truth; I'll tell you the truth."

* * *

Mere minutes after Tom and Abby left the building the rest of the team burst in.

"Abby, Nathan!" Cutter called out as the SAS scoured the room.

"Over here." Someone groaned. Cutter looked over to see Nathan pulling himself up, his hand holding his head. "I- ABBY!" He suddenly screamed, looking frantically for any sign of his friend.

"Nathan calm down, tell us what happened." Stephen asked.

"Tom came; he wanted to answers, he knocked me unconscious." Nathan paled. "He must have taken Abby."

"Were would he go? This is where the tracker was." Cutter asked looking at Duncan and Connor for any insight.

"The stadium." Cutter looked at Stephen. "He wanted answers right, and if Abby wanted to avoid getting bitten she would take him to the Anomaly."

"But the Anomaly was fading when we left." Connor interjected.

"If he doesn't find what he wants…"

"We need to get over their NOW!" Cutter barked.

* * *

By the time she and Tom had reached the stadium her heart was ready to burst. Two times during the drive the parasite had almost gained control off Tom, only the promise of showing him the truth prevented her from being bitten.

"You poor thing." Tom muttered as he stoked the dead dodo. "You killed it." He accused, looking at Abby.

"We didn't kill it." Abby protested, moving to get out of the car only for Tom to grab her by the wrist.

"_Don't_ lie to me again. Things just don't happen, you're connected."

"I'm on your side." Abby protested, trying to appease Tom. She knew that if she could delay him long enough Nathan would wake up and call for help. She had been able to check Nathan while Tom had picked up the dodo. She had sighed in relief when she found he was only unconscious and would recover quickly. "You can trust me." Tom released her wrist and allowed her to exit the car.

Abby showed her ID to the SAS guard. After confirming her ID the guard looked at Tom warily. Abby glanced back a Tom. She could tell the guard the truth and tell him to stop him, but if the guard wasn't fast enough they could both be infected or he would shoot and kill Tom, and as much as she didn't want to get infected she didn't want Tom to die either."…He's a new scientist from Homeland, this is his orientation." The guard seemed to accept this and allowed them to enter.

Abby led him to the walk in refrigerator were the Anomaly had formed, only to find it empty. "This is where the Anomaly was."

Tom walked into the refrigerator and looked around before angrily knocking some of the meat-pies to the ground. Abby backed up as Tom turned around and ripped off his sunglasses. "It's a trap isn't it? Their coming here to kill me aren't they?" Abby didn't have any time to answer as Tom angrily marched towards her. She grabbed one of the shelving units and shoved it into Tom, knocking him over. Abby ran down the kitchen, only stopping to kick Tom in the chest when he got to close.

She ran down the hallway beating on the doors, hoping that one of them was open. Abby turned around to see Tom charging down the hall. Abby finally found an open door into the stadium's locker room. She jumped into a open locker and closed the door praying that Tom wouldn't find her. She heard Tom crash into the room and look around for a moment before screaming, "Were are you!" Knowing that she couldn't hide in the locker forever Abby jumped out, kneed Tom in the gut before he could react and threw him into the lockers.

Abby raced out of the door and into the seats, almost making it to the field, but Tom jumped over the chairs and landed on top of her. Abby tried to pull away, but Tom's had a very good grip on her. As Tom's mouth approached her wrist she did what any sane person would do. She screamed.

* * *

"TOM! NO DON'T DO IT!" Nathan heard Abby's terrified screams coming from the seats.

"Over here!" Captain Ryan shouted as he and his men ran out into the stands, guns trained on Tom who was inches away from infecting Abby. "I can take him out."

"NO! No!" Connor shouted, running in front of Tom.

"Connor he's going to bite her!" Nathan shouted, moving to get closer to Abby. Nathan felt a hand grab his shoulder and he turned glare at the person holding him back only to find Cutter giving him a stern look.

"We have to let him try." Nathan shrugged the professor's hand off angrily, but didn't try to get closer to Abby.

Connor turned to face Tom. "Tom, Tom. It's me... let go of her mate." Tom's gripped tightened as Abby tried to back away a little. "Easy, easy." Connor said, trying to calm Tom down.

"You remember Thursday nights, don't you?" Connor asked, "Battlestar Galactica? Blakes 7? Pepperoni pizza?"

"Connor?" Tom asked, looking up at Connor.

Connor smiled, "Yep, those were good times weren't they? You can fight the dark side mate."

Nathan let out a huge sigh of relief as Tom let go of Abby. Abby pulled herself away and ran to Nathan and pulled him into a hug, burying her face in the crook of his neck. Nathan returned the hug and pulled away after a moment to get a good look at her. "You okay?" Abby shook her head mutely. She turned to face the scene before them, but not without looping her arms around Nathan and half-hiding herself behind him. Connor's words with Tom grew too quiet to hear, but everyone tensed when Tom's eyes dilated again. Tom moved towards Connor ready to spread the parasite… only to let his head fall against Connor shoulder and for his body to start shaking. Connor took Tom and gently laid him against the ground.

The threat was over.

* * *

Nathan glanced at Abby as he made the first incision into the dodo. Despite the fact that the parasite, and Tom, were dead Cutter still wanted the two of them to study the parasite.

"Tom died today because we weren't ready; we need to know more about this thing." Cutter had told them after driving Connor home to give him a time off to mourn his friend.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Nathan asked. Abby hadn't said much on the way back, just staring out of the window in silence.

"Yes." Abby answered quietly.

"You know I'm here for you right?" Nathan questioned. "You don't have to deal with this alone." When Abby didn't answer he turned back to the dodo.

"Hey Nathan." Nathan turned to face Abby who was speaking very quietly. "Could you- could you stay with me? Just for a few days." She added hastily. Nathan smiled; he knew that Abby didn't want him to think she was weak by asking for help. But he also knew that she had just gone through a very traumatic experience, being that close to being infected.

"I'll go take care of my pets and drive over when we're done here." Nathan said.

"Thanks." Abby said, now smiling for the first time since leaving the stadium.


End file.
